dumbing me down

I guess I shouldn’t find it surprising considering this day in the technology age, but what’s with the cut throat? How is it that people can stereotype so quickly without even blinking an eye.

You’re just an online addict. I’ve been traveling for years and you don’t know the first thing about just unplugging and letting your mind go.

I’m still getting used to blogging and I’m also quite bad in editing. It’s like the public are my personified parents. I travel like everyone else – to learn and to experience the things that life have to offer. I haven’t documented all my travels so how can you judge what my experiences are? Do you know where I’ve been or how I got there? I’m not trying to prove that I’m better than other people. I’m not trying to prove that I can write the better article of how to backpack in Vietnam. I’m just trying to share and learn my experiences.

Every trip that I take my parents lecture me about how I need to have a more stable life and that I should travel after I figure everything out in my life or built my retirement fund. What if I’ll never know my objective? Am I suppose to sit in Queens and hope that it’ll come sooner than later? Should I hold off the things that I want to do in hope that I won’t die before 35? What if, I never have the stable life of picking a career and always have a line of jobs?

At this point, women have understood that we can overcome the stereotypes of the trophy wife and doting mother and traded-in for being the career woman or even the super ambitious all-in-one caring supportive ambitious mowifboss (mother wife boss…I know not creative). I used to think that sex would liberate me, but now it’s made me a person that can’t have intimate relationships. It’s a vicious cycle.

I guess in this short ramble the message is that I’m trying in this life so don’t judge me and ask me instead.

Is it smart to travel with a computer to Southeast Asia?

As a traveler, I always thought lighter was smarter. I never brought a computer along simply because of the weight. Well…in addition to my concerns of the possibility my computer being stolen or damaged abroad.

My iPhone is my best travel companion. It’s portable and multi-purposeful. I don’t worry as much about it getting stolen since I can always keep it in my front pocket and it’s super light compared to my 15-inch MacBook Pro. If there is wi-fi I can Skype to family or Google something quickly about the town I’m in. Additionally I’ve used the compass on numerous occasions and have taken pictures to get the GPS location where I’m at for future preference. Don’t even forget all the apps I have on languages and conversions. It’s my all-in-one assistant that I can continue to praise and recommend to fellow travelers.

Yet, in light of trying to better myself and continue to keep up with my writing, I’m considering taking a computer along with my travels. I have a new trip coming up to Thailand, Cambodia and Laos.

I was looking at the 11-inch MacBook Air so it could be light, but I do worry about the hassle of bringing along an expensive amount of equipment.

So, I need some feed back. Is it wise to travel with a computer to Southeast Asia? I know that there is always going to be the possibility of theft, but may be it’s a lot safer than I assume. Does anyone know? Please let me leave any advice you would like to offer, I leave in 2 weeks.

musée mécanique.

"whoa I think I see her ankles"

Who doesn’t like coin-operated machines?

By Fisherman’s Wharf of San Francisco, there is a large hangar that holds a massive amount of coin-operated machines. An array of varied machines from performing puppets, plucking pins from large spinning musical boxes, pin balls and even some modern arcade games in the back.

I found this little treasure while walking along the wharf and saw that there was a free entry for a museum and decided to poke my head in. When I realized that it was filled with coin-operate machines and games, it was like stepping into a dreamer’s world. The nostalgic little marionettes playing out scenarios like an opium’s den or a king’s dance brings back a simpler form of entertainment. Some may have anti-climatic mechanisms, but still a wonder to see for your common historian. Also in the variety of machines are love testers, xxx kinetoscopes and photo booths. It combines both modern and vintage machines that can be enjoyed by all ages from five to 60 years old. A definite recommendation if you only have one day in San Francisco. It’s quite the Quarter Vaudeville.

Went in 1 March 2011.

the beginning.

My name is amanda and I am looking to embark on a new adventure. This blog is a way for me to exercise my travel writing. I can’t promise that the writing will be good, but I hope to open a dialogue with the world wide web and put my views out there.

I’ve recently quit my job and hope to find whatever it is I’m searching for. Some people may think I’m crazy, but it’s invigorating to actually take ownership of your own life. To say fuck you job, fuck you New York, fuck you for the feeling like all I have to do is to work in order to live. No more rat races and no more hating life. Because life is what you make it, right? No living in regrets. I may not ever own a house in the end, but I’ll have stories and experiences to tell.

I look out to anyone that could help give advice on traveling, visas, one-way ticket ordeals, possibility of odd jobs for money, surviving life as it is and not what it has become.

Here I am.